The smoking of plant-based materials such as tobacco and herbaceous substances is a common practice throughout the world for both medicinal and recreational purposes. A smoker's pipe, often called a “bowl”, is a popular apparatus which facilitates smoking of the plant based materials without requiring the use of other combustibles, such as rolling papers and wrappers, which may contribute unwanted contaminants and flavors to the smoke. These pipes have a bowl shaped chamber for receiving and burning of the plant based materials and a conduit for conveying the smoke from the bowl shaped chamber to the mouth of the user.
Traditionally, pipes or bowls are made of durable materials and can include metal, wood, ceramic, stone, glass, and other durable flame resistant materials. While these materials are durable, they are often fragile and bulky. This can make it difficult to travel with a pipe as care must be taken to protect the pipe and also to prevent the residue from burnt material in the bowl from inadvertently exiting the bowl. Disposable pipes attempt to address these short comings. While commercial disposable pipes exist, they are not inexpensive and can be difficult to locate for purchase. Homemade disposable pipes may be made from many sources and materials, such as fruit and various metal objects and materials, often require a great deal of skill to fabricate which can leave the average smoker with an unsatisfying smoking experience.
Therefore a need exists for novel devices and methods for making a smoker's pipe or bowl. There is also a need for novel bowl forming devices and methods which do not require a smoker from having to take care to protect their bowl and also to prevent the residue from burnt material in the bowl from inadvertently exiting the bowl during travel. Finally, a need exists for novel bowl forming devices and methods which may be used to quickly and easily fabricate a bowl from any malleable flame resistant material.